I have yet more newbie questions for you because you did so well with the salary one.

I'll be able to afford a room in a shared house rather than an independent apartment. Assuming this is likely to be a sublet, informal agreement or even a slightly under-the-table landlord dealing in cash, how do I get the certificate of residence, if I need one? Also, am I right in thinking I don't need a permesso di soggiomo any more?

And what other unobtainable bits of paper do I need to be legal, get healthcare, get a mobile phone, apply for a bank account etc? (please remember I'm an EU citizen so in theory it should be easier for me than for non-EU immigrants. She says, hopefully...)

I might fail you on this one, because the rules keep changing and I haven't kept up with them.

This is what I think is the case, but I'm hoping others will come on here and either corroborate or set the record straight.

First off, unless it's miraculously become a haven of efficiency, you're likely to get different responses from different officials in Rome. Don't let this worry you too much. You can do much worse than go down to the municipalita (town hall dealing with your area of Rome) and asking them what you should bring along to get residency. They're probably more likely to give you the time of day than the officials in the questura (which used to be off Via Nazionale, now on the outskirts of Rome off Via Tiburtina).

As an EU citizen things are a lot easier - you're right in that. But you may well need health insurance for a year to cover you while you're in Italy. Get this from the UK before you come over. If you need emergency care in Italy you'll be treated, whoever you are, but your health insurance is for other things like dr prescriptions, etc.

Before you can open a bank account, you'll need a codice fiscale, available from the local Ministry of Finance in your area. Just go along with your passport and they should issue you with one on the spot. In fact, you'll need a codice fiscale to get paid and do most things, so this should be your first piece of paperwork in Italy.

It used to be that you could only get residency with your permesso di sogg. That has now been replaced with something else (a simple certificato, I think) but you mgiht also now need a copy of your working contract (even contratto di progetto) and your health insurance before you apply for residency. But check all this at your local municipalita, and be prepared to give over an entire morning to queue and get the info. It also used to be that with residency you get all the privileges of citizenship (excluding the right to vote) such as bank account, health coverage, etc. But again, this might not still be the case. If the worst comes to the worst, I think you can get a PO bank account even if you're not a resident... do check this out though.

Bits and pieces to bring with you: copies of degree / TEFL certification; spare passport photos, health insurance, prescriptions of any medication you currently take. (The local pharmacy filled prescriptions for me even though I didn't yet have health insurance or a GP - make sure yours are stamped by your dr as recently as possible. They can look up brand names on their terminals and get the closest available in Italy.)

Things you'll need to obtain here, probably in this order: codice fiscale, work contract, bank account, rental agreement (better to get this as a non-resident, "transitory" agreement, then don't ask to change it if you do become a resident), residency (perhaps), coverage on ASL (Italian health service - gets you a local GP).

Blimey! Thanks so much for all that information. My employer is very sweet but is used to dealing with Canadians and Americans coming to teach for a year so doesn't seem to know much about the EU citizen side of things.

One site that you might get up-to-date info from is expatsinitaly dot com. A lot of info is for Americans, but there are also quite a few Brits there too. You could also try italymag dot co dot uk which also has a forum.

I'm not based in Rome but when I first came the sequence of bureaucracy was:

1 get codice fiscale from tax office
2 go to the municipio and register; what you actually need as an EU citizen is "attestazione di regolarita' di soggiorno per i cittadini dell'unione europea", which is a certificate saying your stay in Italy is 'regular' – it doesn't have an expiry date or need renewing
3 take "attestazione di regolarita' di soggiorno" and work contract to servizi sanitari enrolment office – here you choose your GP and get a printout of the health card you need to access health services (the real one comes in the post a few weeks after)

After about a month the local police came round to my apartment to check I actually lived there. They didn't ask to see contracts or anything so you should be OK. I personally don't think you really need to get health insurance before you go since as long as you have a work contract you're entitled to full coverage in Italy. I suppose there's the worry about what might happen before you register, but you're entitled to emergency treatment anyway as an EU citizen.

At various stages of all this you'll have to pay certain fees and stamps etc. This is normal.

My employer is very sweet but is used to dealing with Canadians and Americans coming to teach for a year so doesn't seem to know much about the EU citizen side of things.

Now I'm really confused! Just when I think I've finally got a question sorted out. . . ! After months of reading back pages here to try to get some basic answers to various questions, I thought I had finally sorted out the "Americans working in Europe" question: little, if any, work available in western Europe for non-EU passport holders unless they have very high/specialized qualifications. Eastern Europe, yes; western Europe, no, because of work permit regs. So, why is the landlord "used to dealing with Canadians and Americans coming to teach for a year?" Does he provide housing for teachers working through some specialized program in Rome? Or. . . ? Obviously I'm missing something!

I genuinely have no idea why they tend to employ Americans/Canadians. I do know they're given accommodation and a sort of 'allowance' rather than a salary as such though so, as you say, it may be a university exchange thing. They all look under 30 and they're all taking post-graduate courses (masters/PHD) in childhood development, early years education etc.

It'll be the student visa thing, for which one has to be an actual university student studying (normally in Italian) on some exchange scheme.

There are certainly North American students still allowed to do this - recall that murder case in Italy a couple of years ago where a US student apparently participated in the gruesome murder of her UK roommate??

It's not a loophole for North Americans to work legally in Italy - the teaching has to be really very much a sideline to actual university studies at real universities.

As fas as I know, if you're a US citizen on an approved uni course, you can teach up to 20 hours a week to supplement your income. When I was in Rome, I think it was students from the John Cabot University doing this. It's definitely the case at the University of Perugia (where Amanda Knox and Meredith Kercher were studying).